As the coronavirus began to spread around the planet between late February and early March, few ventured to predict that major world-class sports competitions, such as the long-awaited Olympics event, could be paralyzed. suspended or postponed for months. In 2020, probably one of the strangest and saddest years of our lives, the sports world has not been able to dodge the pandemic either.
After a few atypical months, with confinements everywhere, much of the competition returned in a denatured way in the summer. The final phase of the Champions League in August, without an audience and in a single match in Lisbon, or the NBA urgently ending the competition in the Orlando bubble, as well as the MotoGP or Formula 1 pocket world championships, are some of the examples of sport in covid-19 times. However, the 2021 calendar has been compressed, often thinking more about the interests of the business of the sports industry than about the athletes themselves. Below is a summary of the main events that will mark the sports agenda of 2021, the year in which we will try to sweep away the coronavirus of our day to day.
Coronavirus slows world sport
Barça will be one of the earliest teams to get to work at the beginning of this year. The League does not stop and Barça have two immediate commitments: on Sunday they will visit Huesca, while on Wednesday they will go to Bilbao to play against Athletic Club in a match corresponding to the second day of the championship, but which was postponed because the Barça finished last year later in the Champions League final. On Sunday 13 the team will play the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Sociedad in Córdoba, while the final will be on Sunday 17 in Seville. Shortly afterwards, if the situation of the pandemic does not prevent it, the elections for the presidency of Barça will be held on 24 January.
The new Barça president will have the challenge of managing the outcome of a contracted Leo Messi who has said he will not decide his future until the end of the season, and ensure the economic viability of a club in the red. Whoever is the most voted on January 24 will have already taken office when the team receives PSG on February 16 in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League (the return leg will be on March 10). The Champions League final is scheduled for May 29 at the Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu in Istanbul, Turkey. Three days earlier, the Europa League finalists will have played for the title at the Gdansk Arena (Poland). In women’s football, the final of the Women’s Champions League will be played on May 16 at the Gamla Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg (Sweden).
As for the Copa del Rey, it is expected that the Cartuja de Sevilla will host on April 4 the one that is still pending last year between the Real Sociedad and the Athletic Club, while on the 18th it will be played at the same stage the one corresponding to this season. The postponement of the final between Real and Athletic is explained by the desire of both clubs to be able to count on their fans in this decisive derby for a title. There is still no set date for the gradual return of the public to the stadiums in the state, a decision that depends on the Spanish government, which has said it will “study” this possibility in mid-January. In some countries such as England, up to 2,000 stadium fans were allowed to return in early December, but the unfavorable development of the pandemic has forced them to back down.
The Dakar opens the sports year
On the sports field, the Dakar Rally will start in 2021 with the tough competition in the world of motorsport that takes place between 3 and 15 January in Saudi Arabia. The men’s handball world championship will also be special this morning: the event will take place in Egypt from 13 to 31 January. The women’s world championship in the same discipline, on the other hand, will not be held until the end of the year, between 2 and 19 December in Spain, which is organizing this event for the first time. In the clubs section, the final four of the Champions of handball will be played in Cologne the second weekend of June, six months after the last, held just a few days ago.
The highlight of February will be the Super Bowl, one of the most popular sports shows in the United States (and an event followed around the world). The event will take place in Tampa (Florida) on the 7th. Four days later, a little closer to our home in Madrid, the final of the Basketball King’s Cup will be played between 11 and 14 February. In March, the smell of petrol will take center stage with the start of the Formula 1 World Championships, with the Australian GP on the 21st, and MotoGP, which will start a week later with the Qatar GP. In March, the Cycling Tour of Catalonia will also be held between the 22nd and the 28th, and it hopes to celebrate its centenary.
In May, in addition to the outcome of many national championships such as football or basketball leagues and the celebration of the Champions League final, the final four of the Euroleague basketball, a title that Barça dreams of Jasikevicius, Mirotic, Calathes and company. During this month, between the 8th and 30th, the Giro d’Italia will also be held. In June it will be the turn for the women’s Eurobasketball match in Valencia, between the 17th and 27th. Between June 11th and July 11th, the European Football Championship will be held. disputed last summer. For the time being, the multiseu format is maintained with 12 different countries involved, but the evolution of coronavirus could change this forecast. At the same time, during the same dates, the Copa America will also be played.
The big date: Tokyo 2021
With permission from the club competitions, the quintessential event of this 2021 will be the Tokyo Olympics, which should have been held last summer. The forecast is that this top-level sports festival can be experienced from 23 July to 8 August. Earlier, between June 26 and July 18 (and with the risk of stepping on the preventive measures of the Games), the Tour de France is also scheduled to take place. July 22 is also the maximum date set for the end of the NBA. The Tour of Spain will be held between August 4 and September 5. Finally, among other sporting events around the world, the Barcelona Marathon will take place in our house on November 7th.
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